Group

Jacopo Grilli

Research Scientist (~ Associate Prof) -
email: jgrilli@ictp.it

• B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Physics, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
• Ph.D. in Physics with Amos Maritan, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy
• Postdoc with Stefano Allesina, Dept. of Ecology&Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, US
• Omidyar Postdoctoral Fellow, Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, US

I am a biological physicist, with a background in statistical physics. Broadly speaking, I am interested in understanding complex phenomena starting from simple rules and minimal assumptions. Most of my research is at the interface between statistical physics and ecology, with a particular focus on coexistence, stability, and variability. I also work on different problems in genomics and cell physiology.

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Will Shoemaker

Postdoc, started May 2022 -
email: williamrshoemaker@gmail.com

• B.Sc. in Biology, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA
• Ph.D. in Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
• Postdoc with Nandita Garud, Dept. of Eco. and Evo. Biology, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA

I study the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of microbial communities. Though I am a biologist by training, I am fascinated with views of biological systems that are grounded in statistical physics. At ICTP I am working to build a physicist’s intuition of microbial ecology and evolution through empirical and theoretical means. My current research is focused on connecting macroecological predictions to experimental data and the application of macroecological principles to patterns of genetic diversity in the human gut microbiome.

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Onofrio Mazzarisi

TLQS Postdoc (joint OGS-ICTP), started November 2023 -
email: onofrio.mazzarisi@gmail.com

• B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Physics, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
• Ph.D. in Physics with Federico Corberi, Università di Salerno, Fisciano, Italy
• Postdoc with M. Smerlak, Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
• Postdoc with D. Reuman, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

My background is in theoretical physics and my PhD focused on nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. While I keep an active interest in the fundamentals and methods of statistical physics, the focus of my research mostly shifted to its interface with ecology and evolution. I am currently focusing on links between population dynamics and macro-ecological patterns, microbial ecology and physiology and analysis of stochastic time series.

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Annamaria Bupu

Ph.D. student at SISSA (joint ICTP-SISSA), started Oct 2022 -
email: anna.bupu@gmail.com

• M.Sc. in Physics, Universitas Indonesia, Depok Indonesia
• B.Sc. in Physics, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia

I am a physics student interested in biological systems, especially in the variation of the composition of microbial communities and their relation with ecological function. My current research centers on investigating the reproducibility of microbial communities at various taxonomical levels using a data-driven approach in combination with models.

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Solmaz Golmohammadi

Ph.D. student at IASBS, Iran and STEP student at ICTP, co-supervised with M. Zarei, started Oct 2019 -
email: golmohammadi@iasbs.ac.ir

• B.Sc. Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS), Zanjan, Iran

I am a physics student interested in studying nature from the complex systems perspective, using network science, nonlinear dynamics, statistical physics and stochastic analysis. My thesis will be specifically focused on spatial synchrony in ecology, which is a fundamental feature of population dynamics.

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Dario Sergo

Internship, started Oct 2023 -
email: dariosergo0112@gmail.com

I am a BSc physics student interested in the physics of complex systems. I am currently studying the behavior of a population of individuals with different fitness and mutation rates, employing techniques from computational physics (and stochastic mechanics). In particular I am interested in understanding when (and under which conditions) a variable mutation rate could give to an organism an evolutionary advantage.